Move-in day, tuition deadlines, a new apartment to furnish, a part-time job to land before the first loan or rent payment comes due… Late summer creates a financial obstacle course for students and the parents and grandparents helping them navigate it. Scammers know it — and time their attacks accordingly.
“Back-to-school season can create new opportunities for scammers as students take on new financial responsibilities and navigate major life changes,” said Darius Kingsley, Head of Consumer Fraud and Scam Prevention at JPMorgan Chase. Fake job offers, phony rental listings, scholarship scams, and tuition-payment phishing spike at this time of year.
None is new, but what’s changed is the polish. “Today’s fraudsters often rely on social engineering and artificial intelligence to create convincing emails, texts, websites, and offers that appear legitimate,” Kingsley said. “Messages and websites can look more official, making it easier to get tricked when you’re moving quickly.”
While 18-year-olds may seem like an easy target, Kingsley said incoming students and their parents are targeted: students while hunting for jobs, housing, and financial aid, and parents when scammers impersonate the school or send a tuition payment request. If you’re footing the bill or co-signing anything this fall, you’re a target, too, whether you’re 19 or 65.
Fake job offers that look almost real
Scammers count on students hoping to earn some cash during the school year, Kingsley said. They dangle flexible hours, minimal experience, and pay that sounds a little too generous for the lower level of effort involved. These offers typically arrive as an unsolicited text, email, or social media message — and they may impersonate a real, recognizable employer to seem more credible.
Barry More, CEO of the Better Business Bureau, said college students are especially vulnerable because they’re “looking for help financially.” The BBB has also flagged a more insidious version of this scam: emails impersonating a professor or university’s job placement office, offering a position with no interview required.
The true damage happens after the “hire,” Kingsley said. A fake employer sends a check — theoretically to cover a laptop or training materials — and asks the student to send back a portion, claiming they were overpaid. When the check inevitably bounces, the student is on the hook for whatever they sent. “Legitimate employers won’t send you a check and ask you to return part of it,” he said.
Red flags worth remembering:
- A job offer for a position you never applied for
- A job offer without an interview process
- Pay that seems far too generous for very little effort.
Even if you don’t see these specific red flags, verify the employer through its official website before sharing any personal information, and check with your school’s career center, which can often confirm a listing’s legitimacy in minutes.
“Today’s fraudsters often rely on social engineering and artificial intelligence to create convincing emails, texts, websites, and offers that appear legitimate.”
Rental scams: Great pics, fake apartment
Off-campus housing scams follow a similar pattern, according to Kingsley. The listing features a much lower price than comparable nearby listings, the description has scant detail, and the same photos appear on several other sites.
A red flag that shows up nearly every time? The “landlord” pushes to move the conversation off the rental platform and onto a text thread or messaging app — and then pressures you to wire a deposit before you’ve even seen the place in person.
Kingsley recommends researching the landlord or management company, reading reviews, and confirming the address is a legitimate property before sending any money. Ideally, try to visit in person, take a live video tour, or send someone you trust if you (and your parents) can’t easily go before you sign the lease. “Never send a deposit, first month’s rent, or holding fee before confirming the property is legitimate, and the landlord is who they claim to be,” said Kingsley.
Scholarship and financial aid scams
Scammers will send emails, texts, or social media posts claiming you’ve won an award. They use official-sounding names and logos stolen from legitimate financial aid organizations. But if they ask you to pay a processing fee or want your Social Security number or FAFSA ID before they release any funds, they’re probably a scam.
Kingsley said that legitimate scholarships don’t charge application fees. Verify anything that’s unfamiliar or seems sketchy through the school’s financial aid office or a source ending in .gov before sharing sensitive information.
Phishing that appears to come from the bursar’s office
The FCC has also warned that AI-generated deepfakes — cloned voices of a student, professor, or school official — are appearing in urgent calls demanding immediate tuition payment. Kingsley said the more common scam is an email that looks like it came from the student’s university. It warns of a problem with a tuition payment or financial aid application and asks the recipient to click a link and log in to “resolve” it. The link leads to a fake student portal built specifically to steal login credentials.
His advice is the same for a phishing text as for a suspicious phone call: don’t click. Don’t log in. Don’t call the number in the message. Go to the school’s official website or student portal instead. Or call the bursar’s office to confirm. Each version of these scams, whether a job, rental, scholarship, or phishing, relies on urgency as its main pressure tactic. “Scammers count on students and families moving quickly,” said Kingsley. “Taking a few extra minutes to verify a request, offer, or communication can help prevent a costly mistake.” If something arrives out of the blue and insists you act now, there’s a good chance it’s a scam.
Related: First Thing a Scammer Asks For? Silence. Not Money.
What happens when the money’s been sent?
If the worst happens, stop all contact with the scammer and save everything — emails, texts, screenshots, phone numbers. Call the bank at the number on the back of the debit or credit card (not from the scam message) and explain what happened. Update passwords immediately if you shared any login credentials, and turn on biometrics, passkeys, and 2FA/3FA where available.
Kingsley recommends reporting the incident to your local law enforcement and to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint and keeping an eye on your accounts for any suspicious follow-up activity. He said that scammers often return to previous victims, offering to “recover” the lost money for a fee. That offer is a second scam embedded in the first. Chase also offers free credit and identity monitoring through Chase Credit Journey, open to anyone, plus dedicated fraud-reporting lines for account holders and free fraud-prevention workshops at branches nationwide.
None of these scams is especially clever on paper. What’s evolved is that the wrapping has become more convincing, and scammers have learned how to exploit a time of year when everyone’s moving fast and spending money. Slow down, verify anything that raises red flags through an official source — and always treat the urgency itself as a red flag.
